How many different species of butterfuly are there?

Answer 1

A lot and still increasing. Biologist are still finding new species in places like Asia and South America. Also, there is inconsistency in cataloging butterflies, so there is gonna be some omissions and duplications of species.

"There are 561 known butterfly species and 110 ecoregions in the U.S. and Canada"
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/05/030526103731.htm

"There are about 17,500 species of butterflies in the world, and around 750 species in the United States."
http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/buginfo/butterfly.htm

Answer 2

That really depends if you are including the Hedyloidea (the American moth-butterflies), Hesperioidea (the skippers) and Papilionoidea (the so-called 'true' butterflies) along with the Lepidoptera order. This concept of butterflies including the Hedyloidea is an only recently expanded one, but it makes the group a natural clade, the Rhopalocera. If you include these you are looking at 15,000 to 20,000 species.

Of course more are always being discovered.

Answer 3

According to the North American Butterfly Asociation, there are approximately 20,000 species of butterflies in the world.

According to the website:
"About 725 species have occurred in North American north of Mexico, with about 575 of these occurring regularly in the lower 48 states of the United States, and with about 275 species occurring regularly in Canada. Roughly 2000 species are found in Mexico."
It also mentions that you can usually find roughly 100 species of butterfly within range of your home.

But don't forget....the number goes up regularly as new species of insects are discovered!

Answer 4

The Evil One said the Supreme Being was stupid to make so many species of this useless creature which can't even operate machinery. The Evil One is obsessed with gadgets.